Overheads
The legendary Arthur Saxon performing a heavy 'two hands anyhow'
Day two & annoyingly I’ve come down with a cold which doesn’t make thinking or lifting any easier. Today’s agenda requires plenty of both as it’s all about getting weights overhead in various ways: the viking push press, the jerk, the windmill, the side press & the bent press.
Lots of similarities between them & lots of differences too. A plethora of subtle & invaluable pointers of note from the instructors, who can perform these lifts with loads heavier than my bodyweight.
Although they’re not all moves we’re about to trouble anyone else with, they do require & teach techniques that carry over to the more common grind & ballistic lifts such as the press & snatch. To those of us who get excited about lifting heavy things overhead it was fascinating stuff.
The bent press & side press are pretty obscure these days yet used to be staples for performing strongmen because they can be performed with heavier weights than a regular press. Well, with good technique they can; I was making them look difficult with iddy-biddy bells today so lots of practice is required.
Try googling for Eugen Sandow or Arthur Saxon who were two giants of the golden age & performed these lifts in the early twentieth century with weights that haven’t been bettered since. Yes, their pictures helped define our stereotypical image of the mustachioed strongman & now seem rather comical, but they were seriously strong in ways the modern machine-based gym could never replicate.
Thanks again for more of your messages & best wishes- we’re missing y’all y’all.
Apropos nothing, I tried root beer for the first time at dinner. Looks like cola, tastes like mouthwash; I’m not sold. Let’s hope it cures colds.
